Electronic House has the story and a slideshow here. The Microsoft executive wanted to remain unidentified to protect his family’s privacy, but he showed the home off to a few reporters in late November.

The article: Top Microsoft Exec Shows Off Media Center-Based Home

The slideshow

MyNetflix lets you access your Netflix queue through Media Center. You can

• View your Netflix queue
• Browse movies by genre, top 100, new titles, etc.
• View your history and recommendations
• Add movies to your queue
• Remove movies from your queue
• Move movies to the top of your queue
• Browse “watch now” movies
• Play “watch now” movies

Note that you cannot play “watch now” movies from an Xbox using this plugin–Microsoft has teamed up with Netflix to make this happen, though, so if that’s your interest, check this out.

FYI: “Watch Now” movies from Netflix require that you have Microsoft Silverlight installed on your computer. If you don’t already have it installed, it will ask you to install the first time you start a movie on your computer.

OK, so along to the installation:

Download and installation of the plugin went smoothly. As part of the installation, you must enter your Netflix login and password so that Media Center can access your queue.

 Enter your information. You can hit the “Test” button if you want to verify that the plugin connects correctly. This finished the installation.

I immediately found MyNetflix in the program library under “programs by name.”

 I had no problem viewing my Netflix queue, and even started a “watch now” movie (Spider Baby, a weird little cult horror movie starring Lon Chaney, Jr., for anyone who’s interested).

Verdict? Works perfectly! If you’d like to manage your Netflix queue and watch Netflix movies through Media Center, download it now! It’s free, but you could certainly toss the developer a little appreciation through PayPal.

The winning installation was done by cyberManor, a Los Gatos, California integration company, and submitted by the company president, Gordon Van Zuiden.

CEPro has the whole story, with slideshow. Enjoy!

Media Center users get stuck on the fact that they can’t set a TV tuner preference for an individual channel or that it lacks a record HD content-only feature.

Microsoft’s new venture, the Media Center Integrator Alliance, aims to help integrators and users address those issues by providing more information about how to maximize their Media Center experience. But the Gadget Blog is more interested in Exceptional Innovation’s new Life|medias.

The Lifemedia comes with customizable UI’s, support for the iPhone (to make it a useful remote control), and a fully integrated wireless connection. Basically, the promise is that if every Vista owner had one of these boxes, the ‘Vista Sucks’ jokes would be hard to come by.

The newly-announced Life|media LMS-172 and LMS-175 provide premium service for much-less-than-premium prices.

Wired’s article here.
More on the new Life|medias (did you know they have a 5.1 surround-sound amplifier, ZigBee control technology, and support for iPhone as a remote?) at CEPro.

Head right over to Microsoft’s Ultimate Install site and get those entries in!

(no, the Disney Innoventions Dream Home is NOT eligible!)

Microsoft is looking for the best installation using Windows Media Center in a residential system. Submit your Windows Media Center project for the opportunity to win a vacation for two and a visit to the Microsoft campus as well as recognition as the design and installation firm who built the Ultimate Media Center Install! Last year’s winning entry, submitted by Tyler Jennings of Imperium Smart Systems LLC in Herriman, Utah, is a Life|ware installation—let’s keep Life|ware dominant!

Entries are open now, and the deadline is August 1, 2008. The winner will be announced September 3, 2008, at the CEDIA Expo in Denver, CO.

One winner will be chosen from the list of eligible contest entrants based on the judging criteria. Prizes include:

• An all-expense paid trip for one to CEDIA Expo 2008 in Denver, Colorado, including round-trip airfare, 3-night hotel accommodation in Denver, and participation in a Press Cocktail event announcing the winner
• A trip for 2 to Microsoft, round-trip airfare, 2-night hotel accommodation at the Bellevue Westin and a special VIP day at Microsoft that includes a $1000 cash, a visit to the Microsoft eHome Custom Install (CI) demo room, time with the eHome team focused on the CI channel, and a private tour of the Microsoft MSHome.
• A full-day professional photo shoot of your winning solution
• A story featuring your entry, interview, and pictures from the photo shoot posted on the CE Installer website
• A Technology Appreciation Package for the homeowner provided by Microsoft that consists of:
  • Xbox360 Elite video game and entertainment system
  • 4 Black Xbox360 Wireless Controllers
  • 1 Xbox360 Media Center Remote
  • 1 Year Xbox Live Subscription
  • 4 Xbox360 Game Titles (actual titles to be determined by sponsor)
  • 1 80GB Zune, 1 8GB Zune, and a Zune Home AV Kit

   

For more details and how to enter, visit the Windows Media Center Ultimate Install website. Good luck!

We are glad to see so many new ways to access all of our HD content (including recorded HD cable) on any HDTV in the house, and we’re happy to say that every one of these devices is a great solution. But while gamers will be drawn to the value of the Xbox 360, the noise and sheer size of the box prevent it from being the ultimate solution for others. So as much as we miss the cool animated transitions, the old adage “Jack of all trades, master of none” was never more true, and in the case of Media Center Extenders we really prefer the Linksys DMA2100. It is less expensive, boots up faster, and is so small and quiet it will work in just about any application where the main goal is to access VMC. At the same time, it is a close race, and since an Extender is the kind of device you’re likely to own more than one of, we’d probably choose one of each if we were outfitting our entire house.

To get to the demos, open Vista Media Center and scroll to Internet TV beta. Select Tech, then Tech and Gadgets, and there you are!

Anthony Park has just released MyNetflix for Vista Media Center. This incredible MCML plug-in has a host of features including “Watch Now” streaming ability!

Check out Chris Lanier’s Blog for more information and download links. Also, anyone with Netflix, let us know how it works!

[UPDATE] Engadget is reporting that Netflix is looking to making streaming movies to the Xbox available as well! Article here.

In my case, my boyfriend used my VHS-C camcorder to record a local band’s performance, and wanted to be able to give them a DVD of it. “Sure, we can do that!” I said. But it was a little bit more complicated than I expected.

Minor setback #1

I had access to a Media Center with analog inputs, and was sure that I could just connect my camcorder to the Media Center, start the tape and begin recording onto the Media Center. Not so. I’m not sure what those analog inputs are FOR, but I got no response on either of the Media Centers (two different brands) that I tried. When I checked the manuals for both, I found one didn’t mention the analog inputs at all, and the other specified that you could only use them for streaming (and I was unable to make that work either).

Solution: Buy some equipment! I purchased a package called DVD Maker (around $40). This included an analog-to-USB interface, drivers, and movie editing software.

The analog-to-USB device has a USB connector and sound connector for the computer, and composite video and S-video connectors for your analog device.
Instead of using the included software, which would only go directly to DVD, I chose to use Windows Movie Maker.

Getting it up and running really couldn’t have been easier. I connected the interface to my computer and to the VHS-C camcorder, installed the drivers, opened Windows MovieMaker, and got the band’s performance recorded onto my PC easily. This is GREAT, I thought. I’ll try it on a Media Center now!

Minor setback #2

You cannot record analog video using Windows Movie Maker onto Media Centers (or any computer) with Vista installed. Not even using the analog-to-USB interface. The subtle difference in the Movie Maker dialog boxes say it all:

Windows XP Movie Maker

Windows Vista Movie Maker

Solution: I was able to do a transfer direct to DVD using the DVD Maker software, but if you just want to get your analog video into Media Center this adds an extra step. In order to go directly to Movie Maker, you have to connect your analog device to a digital camcorder that can do the conversion. The Movie Maker help gives explicit directions on how to do this, so I have nothing to add except to say…

Minor setback #3

I was hoping to keep using my VHS-C camera until it dies! If I buy a digital video camera to get my analog movies into Media Center, why not just use the digital camcorder instead?

Well, lucky for me I still have a Windows XP laptop. I’ve successfully transferred video from my VHS-C camcorder and from VHS videotapes (just connect your VCR the same way you might connect an analog video camera). I’m thinking of trying to transfer videodiscs next (yes, I own a piece of history–a genuine Hitachi videodisc player–not even laserdisc–this thing has a needle!) For backup purposes only, you know.

So what’s the bottom line?

To convert your analog videos and put them on your Media Center, you will need:

• Some kind of audio/video capture device. This can be a video capture card installed in your Media Center (I didn’t discuss this, but it could be a good option if you do a lot of video capture) or an external device that connects to a USB port and the external microphone on your PC (works well with Windows XP, may require extra steps for Vista) or a digital video camera with Firewire connection that can make the conversion (better for Vista).
• Windows Movie Maker or other video production software.

References:

Capturing Video in Windows Movie Maker from Analog Sources (Windows XP focus)

Import Video from a Videotape (Windows Vista Help and How-To)

About.com: Digital Video Recording (good tips here)

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